We’re anchored inside the barrier beach where we can clearly hear the surf roar of an Atlantic Ocean that I have not seen since turning up into the Cape May channel weeks ago. It makes me realize what amazing cruising we have here on the east coast to have come so far, so close, and to have almost forgotten what an ocean swell feels like.
Yesterday was a typical day of motoring down the ditch although sitting in the cockpit, warm and comfortable in a tee shirt on December 4, was pretty unique in my cruising experience to date.
I’ve been having Lee and Lynn take the lead since the navigation is mostly visual. There are two of them so one can use binoculars and read the guidebook and chart more easily. I mostly run on autopilot but it takes nearly as constant attention as the wheel. The wake interaction with narrow channels pulls it towards the bank as soon as the boat gets off center. The electronic brain will correct but not quickly enough in most places. It’s a lot easier to push the button or give the wheel a little nudge than it is to hold against the prop walk pressure all day. I can also let go of the wheel any time for half a minute or so.
We reached the turn off to the channel up to our Surf City anchorage and I had that sudden moment of suspended belief you have just before your car hits the one in front of you. They went past the marker and I could see some pointing and waving in the cockpit. I thought frantically for a moment of radios and cell phones but realized it was all happening too fast so I followed them around the wrong side after a quick look at my chartplotter and was looking for a spot to anchor even before they struck. After confirming that they were aground, I got the anchor set.
Lee was right on top of things and was rowing his spare anchor rode over even before I was back in the cockpit. The repeat of the Beaufort exercise didn’t work. Poor Strider trembling at full power and blowing black smoke with Serendipity in reverse and, nada. I pulled up my anchor and went around in to more open water on the other side of the marker.
Lynn called TowboatUS and I rowed over to sit and sip cold drinks while we waited for the rescue. We had a nice chat with a local who came along in a kayak. The towboat eventually showed up and said that shoal accounts for about 80% of his business. The ungrounding was pretty effortless since he knows the shape of the hump and where the trench dug by countless keels is. He just nudged their bow into it and they were free.
I returned to Strider and turned on my cell phone. There was a message saying, “Who’s aground? I’m watching you on SPOT and I can see the shoal on Google Earth where you stopped.”
When then ran up the channel and anchored for the night.
Must like dogs. Maggie and I aboard her boat:
(Hello, Beth.)
Yesterday was a typical day of motoring down the ditch although sitting in the cockpit, warm and comfortable in a tee shirt on December 4, was pretty unique in my cruising experience to date.
I’ve been having Lee and Lynn take the lead since the navigation is mostly visual. There are two of them so one can use binoculars and read the guidebook and chart more easily. I mostly run on autopilot but it takes nearly as constant attention as the wheel. The wake interaction with narrow channels pulls it towards the bank as soon as the boat gets off center. The electronic brain will correct but not quickly enough in most places. It’s a lot easier to push the button or give the wheel a little nudge than it is to hold against the prop walk pressure all day. I can also let go of the wheel any time for half a minute or so.
We reached the turn off to the channel up to our Surf City anchorage and I had that sudden moment of suspended belief you have just before your car hits the one in front of you. They went past the marker and I could see some pointing and waving in the cockpit. I thought frantically for a moment of radios and cell phones but realized it was all happening too fast so I followed them around the wrong side after a quick look at my chartplotter and was looking for a spot to anchor even before they struck. After confirming that they were aground, I got the anchor set.
Lee was right on top of things and was rowing his spare anchor rode over even before I was back in the cockpit. The repeat of the Beaufort exercise didn’t work. Poor Strider trembling at full power and blowing black smoke with Serendipity in reverse and, nada. I pulled up my anchor and went around in to more open water on the other side of the marker.
Lynn called TowboatUS and I rowed over to sit and sip cold drinks while we waited for the rescue. We had a nice chat with a local who came along in a kayak. The towboat eventually showed up and said that shoal accounts for about 80% of his business. The ungrounding was pretty effortless since he knows the shape of the hump and where the trench dug by countless keels is. He just nudged their bow into it and they were free.
I returned to Strider and turned on my cell phone. There was a message saying, “Who’s aground? I’m watching you on SPOT and I can see the shoal on Google Earth where you stopped.”
When then ran up the channel and anchored for the night.
Must like dogs. Maggie and I aboard her boat:
(Hello, Beth.)
